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LANDMARK case... Brian Gannon’s on the ball after winning his appeal.
LANDMARK case... Brian Gannon’s on the ball after winning his appeal.

Landmark win for landlord over TV fine

Michael Byrne
31/ 3/2006

A SUCCESSFUL appeal by a former Rochdale landlord could mean over 100 pubs throughout the county escaping punishment for showing live football on Saturday afternoons.

Brian Gannon, mine host at the Fisherman's Inn, was prosecuted by the Federation Against Copyright Theft and convicted for showing the Premier League match between Chelsea and Birmingham at the Hollingworth Lake hostelry in August 2004.

He was fined £1,500 and ordered to pay costs of over £3,000. But the decision has been overturned on appeal at Bolton Crown Court.

Paul Dixon, from Mr Gannon's solicitors, Molesworth Bright Clegg, said: "This is a landmark case because more than 100 pubs are facing these prosecutions and we believe Mr Gannon's is the first to raise certain technical issues.

"The primary reason the appeal was upheld was because the court decided Mr Gannon had not acted dishonestly.

"The court decided the pub was showing a transmission from Greece not the UK. The criminal offence doesn't cover broadcasting services from outside the United Kingdom.

"I believe that anyone who is charged under this section has a defence and should be acquitted. If they have been convicted they should take legal advice about the possibility of an appeal."

Mr Gannon sold the Fisherman's Inn a week after he was prosecuted.

He said: "Most people would not take it as far as I have taken it and go to appeal, but I didn't want to be bullied by the Premier League.

"I'm very relieved to have won the appeal as this has cleared my name. I have been concerned about it because my character has been slurred and the main reason I went to court was to correct that.

"Whether other publicans should challenge things like this depends very much on the circumstances, but if someone was in a similar situation to me then it is worth challenging the decision."

A Premier League spokesman said: "This cannot be described as a landmark case and prosecutions will continue. We sell the rights to screen live games in the United Kingdom to BSKYB and no-one else has the right to screen games.

"This game was shown on a foreign satellite system which was created for a different market. It was also taken from the closed period between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on Saturday afternoons, when games can't be shown."


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Most recent 1 of 1 user comments

   It's a great victory for the landlord who are being screwed into the ground by BSkyB to the tune of A#1,000's per year. They don't even show the live games on Saturdays. Whenever they decide they want to show a 'decent' game they charge yet again for Prem+. I hope they learn a lesson from this victory, or consider the fact they will lose many, many highly profitable customers.
Andy, Watford
13/04/2006 at 12:46
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